Cubs Down Marlins, Make Some History

April 16, 2000|By Jimmy Greenfield, Tribune Staff Writer.

Rick Aguilera had a ball collecting his 1,000th career strikeout. Then he gave it away.

Aguilera's milestone strikeout closed out the Cubs' 4-2 victory over Florida Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field and earned him his third save. But instead of putting the ball on his mantel, Aguilera handed it to rookie Scott Downs, who allowed four hits in seven innings for his first career victory.

"I guess you could say it's more important for me, but 1,000 strikeouts is pretty good," Downs said. "I told him we could cut the ball in half and we could split it."

The Cubs scored three runs in the first inning for the second straight day, but in a far from routine fashion. Leadoff hitter Eric Young's smash ricocheted off the right leg of Florida starter Ryan Dempster (1-2) for a single. After Ricky Gutierrez singled, Sammy Sosa hit a line drive that struck second-base umpire Mark Hirschbeck, who left briefly in the third to ice his leg.

Because Hirschbeck was standing in front of the fielders, the ball was ruled dead and Young couldn't score from third. The bases were loaded for Mark Grace, who hit a pop fly to shallow left. Then the fun began.

Young tagged up and beat the throw home, but catcher Mike Redmond tried to get Gutierrez straying off second base. His throw was late, and Luis Castillo then threw the ball over first baseman Kevin Millar's head trying to nab Sosa, allowing Gutierrez to score.

Sosa scored on the next play when Dempster, who retired 19 in a row after the first inning, threw away Glenallen Hill's infield dribbler.

Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless eighth and has now pitched eight hitless innings this season. Aguilera, Guthrie and Felix Heredia have allowed three runs in 22 1/3 innings.